Waiting
Today I will let the old boat standWhere the sweep of the harbor tide comes inTo the pulse of a far, deep-steady sway.And I will rest and dream and sit on the deckWatching the world go byAnd take my pay for many hard days gone I remember.
I will choose what clouds I likeIn the great white fleets that wander the blueAs I lie on my back or loaf at the rail.And I will listen as the veering winds kiss me and fold meAnd put on my brow the touch of the world’s great will.
Daybreak will hear the heart of the boat beat,Engine throb and piston playIn the quiver and leap at call of life.To-morrow we move in the gaps and heightsOn changing floors of unlevel seasAnd no man shall stop us and no man followFor ours is the quest of an unknown shoreAnd we are husky and lusty and shouting-gay.
Words in this poem
- daybreak n.
- The time of the first appearance of light in the morning.
- throb v. i.
- To beat, or pulsate, with more than usual force or rapidity; to beat in consequence of agitation; to palpitate; -- said of the heart, pulse, etc. [OE. ; of uncertain origin; cf. Russ. trepete a trembling, and E. trepidation.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- husky a.
- Abounding with husks; consisting of husks. [From Husk, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Waiting is in the public domain. This text is taken from Chicago Poems, Wikisource; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Carl Sandburg, Waiting, in Chicago Poems (1916), text of Wikisource, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/sandburg-chicago-poems/waiting.html, id L28976.
Form and metre
Waiting is 19 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 75%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 3 -A-----A beat · playA · life · heights · seas · follow · shore · gayA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Today I will let the old boat stand | 9 | ˘/······· |
| Where the sweep of the harbor tide comes in | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To the pulse of a far, deep-steady sway. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And I will rest and dream and sit on the deck | 11 | ··········· |
| Watching the world go by | 6 | /˘···· |
| And take my pay for many hard days gone I remember. | 14 | ·····/˘····˘/˘ |
| I will choose what clouds I like | 7 | ······· |
| In the great white fleets that wander the blue | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| As I lie on my back or loaf at the rail. | 11 | ··········· |
| And I will listen as the veering winds kiss me and fold me | 15 | ···/˘··/˘······ |
| And put on my brow the touch of the world’s great will. | 12 | ············ |
| Daybreak will hear the heart of the boat beat, | 10 | /········· |
| Engine throb and piston play | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| In the quiver and leap at call of life. | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| To-morrow we move in the gaps and heights | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| On changing floors of unlevel seas | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| And no man shall stop us and no man follow | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| For ours is the quest of an unknown shore | 11 | ·/˘·····˘/· |
| And we are husky and lusty and shouting-gay. | 12 | ···/˘·/˘·/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.